Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary global simulcast & cinema extravaganza

BBC Worldwide today announced that the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, will be broadcast simultaneously to millions of viewers worldwide in a global simulcast on 23rd November 2013. This is an exciting first for the show.

From Canada to Colombia, Brazil to Botswana and Myanmar to Mexico, fans in at least 75 countries spanning six continents will be able to enjoy the episode in 2D and 3D at the same time as the UK broadcast, with more countries expected to be confirmed within the next month. The US, Australia and Canada have also signed up for the simulcast which will be shown in numerous countries across Europe, Latin America and Africa.

On top of the worldwide TV broadcast, hundreds of cinemas in the UK and across the world also plan to screen the hotly anticipated special episode simultaneously in full 3D, giving fans the opportunity to make an event of the occasion and be part of a truly global celebration for the iconic British drama series. Details about tickets for the anniversary screening will be announced in due course.

Steven Moffat, current showrunner for Doctor Who and Executive Producer of the 50th Anniversary episode adds: “The Doctor has always been a time traveller - now he's travelling time zones. On the 23rd of November, it won't be the bad guys conquering the Earth - everywhere it will be The Day of the Doctor!”

The free-to-air 3D coverage will be available to those with access to a 3D TV set and to the BBC’s HD Red Button service. This is part of the BBC’s two-year trial experimenting with 3D production and distribution, which has also included selected coverage from Wimbledon 2012 and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Day of the Doctor, the 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who, will be simultaneous broadcast with the UK in the following countries:

21 comments:

I'm half Spanish, half French,currently living in the second one, and find very disapointing to find out the Special won't be simulcast in any of the two countries. I'm not suprised about Spain (the series is very ill-treated there, and bearly nobody knows about it), but I am about France. I mean, here the series is much more well known, thanks to it being broadcasted in a national TV channel. I just don't understand why we aren't getting it.

Hey, just thought you should know I've had it confirmed from Sky TV in New Zealand that it will also be airing here. You might want to include that in your list so that Kiwi fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

An advance look at the BBC America schedule shows a tentative airtime of 2:45pm ET on Saturday November 23rd. This time is of course *EXTREMELY* subject to change, but it is worth noting BBCA simulcast the unveiling of the Twelfth Doctor live with no commercial interruptions.

1) I'm really hoping some local US theaters will show some Doctor Who 3D love!

2) BBC America simulcasted the revelation of Peter Capaldi as the next doctor and didn't break for commercials. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that option (accept that it ran over into the next show and didn't get picked up on my DVR).